Categories:Election 2008
Posted by Scott Kraus at 03:20:41 PM on October 25, 2008

Two of Barack Obama's top supporters in Pennsylvania called on Republican John McCain and the state Republican party to publicly condemn an attack e-mail containing falsehoods that was sent to 75,000 people in the state by party operatives this week.

State Rep.Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery called a section of the email that warns Jewish voters not to make the same mistake as their ancestors who "ignored the warning signs in the 1930’s and 1940’s" hate speech.

“The words that were contained in that email were absolutely abominable...." Shapiro said. "The language used in that email specifically invoking Nazi Germany was a new low.”

U.S. Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. said McCain's strategy in the closing days of the race seems to go beyond throwing the kitchen sink at Obama.

“Now you have a campaign which is in my judgement at once despicable… and pathetic,” Casey said. “We have to be aware of it, rebut the charges, and push back on this pathetic, despicable fear and smear strategy.”

The state GOP has repudiated the email, signed by several top McCain supporters, including former State Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman, and fired the staffer it said helped compose and distribute the email. A party spokesman told the New York Times that the email "definitely went a little bit farther than the facts would support.”

Among other false charges, the email which went primarily to Jewish voters, accused Obama of teaching voter fraud to members of the community organizing group ACORN.